Where to stay in Dubrovnik, Croatia!

I arrived in Dubrovnik, Croatia a couple hours before sunset after traveling for 24 hours straight. After a whirlwind day, seeing the gorgeous Adriatic Sea was a welcome relief and a balm for my soul. Ivan, my lovely driver who picked me up at the airport, was pointing out things along the way and giving me some anecdotes about living in Dubrovnik. The first glimpse of Kings Landing as it is called in Game of Thrones was everything I could ever hope it to be. The orange roofs and tan weathered stones reminded me so much of my beloved Italy.

My Airbnb rental that I got to stay in while in Dubrovnik was insanely amazing. It was everything I wanted and more and I am so glad that I selected it. It had gorgeous natural lighting, an outdoor patio, two balconies, and two bathrooms. Although it was just me, myself, and I in the apartment, I could easily see 4 people staying in the apartment comfortably.

The view of the Old Town from the apartment – oh the view – was simply superb.

I was STARVING so I trekked down the 100s of steps that evening and went to the first restaurant I could find – Pizza Tabasco. I had a delicious pizza with some Croatian cheese called kajmat, pepperoni, ham, mushrooms, and olives. Thin and hot served with a cool quarter liter of local white wine made it the perfect choice. Plus I had leftover if I didn’t feel like hiking down – which was actually the best thing ever because that hike back, I hope I never have to do that again. I also managed to fall down by not paying attention and stepping into a pot hole. At the time, it didn’t seem like a big deal but more on that later.

That night after taking a decadent bath in the large tub, I realized that I did not have a hairbrush to get all of the knots out. So like a sane person, I slept with knots. YOLO and all that.

I woke up late the next day and boy was that luxurious. Surprise, surprise that my long hair was almost dread-lock like. It was pretty bad in my own standards. On a whim and channeling my inner mermaid Disney princess, I tried a fork. HA. That was a hoot. It did as much as a comb would do which for my hair is pretty much nothing. Eventually I had to finger it apart as best as possible and I lost a lot of hair in the process. The birds of Croatia probably love me.

A few other things that I forgot to pack which are pretty important in my opinion:

1. deodorant: I realized this the hard way after traveling for so long and running through Moscow’s airport. I went to the bathroom to change clothes and reapply my deodorant when low and behold, I couldn’t find any in my bag. I had to buy some expensive designer kind in the duty free shop. A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do
2. aforementioned hairbrush but no sweat, got one at the local DM (small grocery store) after suffering through dreads for a day or two
3. Soap: This one I thought about in the abstract before I left and I kept meaning to buy a travel container for solid soap and just never did. I managed to get some lovely handmade local Croatian lavender soaps and I have no regrets.
4. Travel adapters for my computer, camera, and curling iron. This one I definitely thought about before my trip. I even remember looking up and seeing if I needed a converter for my laptop but learned that my cord automatically has it built in (yay Apple!). My Moma had gotten me a smaller USB converter for charging my iPad and iPhone for Christmas but apparently I just completely forgot my other electronics?

In my mind, this is why I am a better last-minute packer. I packed a few days before I left and somehow managed to forget some pretty important essentials. Guess I will never be proactive again. ?

xx,
Sami